In January of 1913, famous British Mathematician Godfrey Harold Hardy received an unusual letter in the mail. It began, “Dear Sir, I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Account department of the Port Trust Office at Madras on a salary of 20 Pounds (Rs. 2100) per annum”. It then presented seemingly outrageous claims, that its author had made “starting” progress on a theory of divergent series in mathematics, and had solved a well-established problem of the distribution of prime numbers.
As a prominent mathematician it was not rare for Hardy to receive letters from fanatics and crackpots, making ridiculous claims and wild assertions. At first glance, this appeared to fit the bill. As Hardy examined the letter more closely, he soon recognized that it was unlike anything he had encountered before. The letter contained 120 advanced mathematical theorems, some of which were rediscoveries of established concepts, while others were truly groundbreaking-even confusing the great Hardy. After showing the letter to his colleague John Edensor Littlewood, Hardy concluded the results “must be true because, if they were not true, no one would have had the imagination to invent them.”
Immediately, he surmised that the letter must have been written by a mathematician of the highest ability, some sort of genius like Euler or Jacobi. Only one question remained: Who was this mystery man, this Indian clerk making 20 Pounds a year? How was it possible that this total unknown had reached and even surpassed the greatest mathematical minds in the world?
On December 22, 1887, a child was born in Madras, India, one of many in a country of, nearly 300 million people at the time. But this was not just any child. By the age of 11, he had exhausted and surpassed the knowledge of two college students, who happened to be boarding with his family. At 13, he mastered advanced trigonometry without a teacher, alone, from a book someone had lent him, and began creating his own theorems. At 16, he stumbled by chance, across a copy of George Scoobridge Carr’s seminal work-A synopsis of Elementary results in Pure and Applied mathematics, and began to work through its 5000 theorems. The next year, Ramanujan independently developed and investigated, the Bernoulli’s numbers and calculated the Euler-Mascheroni constant to 15 decimal places, completing as teenager, and without mentorship-what the world’s greatest mathematical minds had painstakingly accomplished over centuries. His school mates said that they “rarely understood him”, and that rather they simply “stood in respectful awe”. The headmaster of his school, while presenting him with a mathematics award, said Ramanujan deserved a score higher than the maximum.
In recognition of his obvious ability, Ramanujan received a scholarship when he completed high school to study at the prestigious Govt. Arts College, Kumbakonam. But once he was there, he could focus on nothing but math, failing most of his other courses in the process, and seeing his scholarship revoked. He would leave school, then return, then leave again, before taking a job as a low-level govt. clerk. Through it all, he pursued independent mathematical research at every opportunity, often living in poverty and on the brink of starvation, sustained only by his inherent brilliance. It may have been that this was where the story of Ramanujan ended, unknown and undiscovered in some dusty office, buried under a clerk’s minutiae. It may have been this way, were not for a letter he wrote in 1913 to G. H. Hardy.
It was Hardy, having rescued Ramanujan’s letter from the literal and figurative dustbin of history, who was thankfully open-mined enough to recognize he had discovered something incredible in its author. In a burst of excitement which comes when a proficient recognize virtuosity, he immediately set about attempting to bring Ramanujan to England to join him at the university of Cambridge. After some initial resistance, Ramanujan agreed and set out on the arduous journey through the Suez Canal, from the jewel of the empire to its heart.
Upon arriving in England, Ramanujan amazed Hardy with his natural ability. Here
was an untrained mathematician with an eccentric style, nobody had ever seen before, and a talent which felt limitless. Through their collaboration, Hardy provided the training Ramanujan had previously lacked, metaphorically polishing the diamond as best he could. Soon, Ramanujan was astounding seasoned mathematicians with theorems, that had gone unsolved for centuries, and ideas never before considered. In short order, he became an almost mythical figure in the math community, a sensation with seemingly impossible ability. He was named one of the youngest ever Fellows of the Royal Society at 31, then became the first Indian ever elected a Fellow of Trinity College. The child prodigy had become a phenomenon as an adult.
Then, as quickly as he came, he was gone. At the conclusion of World War 1, suffering from ill health brought about by wartime deprivation on his religious vegetarian diet, Ramanujan would return home to India. Shortly thereafter, he would die at the age of 32.
All told, Ramanujan compiled some 3900 mathematical results during his lifetime. Since his death, nearly all of his claims have been proved to be correct, opening up entirely new areas of study, and inspiring much further research. In fact, his influence on the field was so prominent, that The Ramanujan Journal was created, as a scientific publication devoted solely to work in areas of math, influenced by Ramanujan. But as decades have passed something even more mind-blowing has emerged, another layer in the legend of Ramanujan. As science and math have developed and evolved, Ramanujan’s work has become relevant to avenues of study, which didn’t even exist when he was alive, in areas like computer science, electrical engineering, and the study of black-holes.
Ramanujan is no more. Seemingly, every year, his work provides new revelation, new relevant appl
ications, whether on black holes or otherwise. Already It has been speculated that in the future, Ramanujan’s work may have crucial relevance to next-level concepts like time-travel, antigravity, and limitless energy.
There are many questions in all mathematicians’ minds, till date. How is this possible? How could Ramanujan have known about things which did not exist? How was he able to provide insight, so far beyond what was understood in his time? How much did he learn? What insights might he have left for us, which we have not yet discovered?
December 22 is celebrated as National Mathematics Day, honouring the brilliance of Srinivasa Ramanujan, whose contributions continue to inspire us and will keep inspiring the upcoming generations till the end of time. It was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 26, 2011, at Madras University to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the renowned Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. During this event, Prime Minister Singh also declared that 2012 would be observed as the National Mathematics Year.
Let us delve into the world of numbers, equations and infinite possibilities, as we honour Ramanujan’s enduring legacy and recognize the profound impact of mathematics on our lives.
(Compiled from multiple sources)
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